Sydney Modern opens its doors and reveals immersive SANAA architecture
SANAA’s Sydney Modern opens its doors to the public in Australia
![Sydney Modern opens in 2022](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/7K4gZPw98LUYSXqBuhHTFT-415-80.jpg)
Sydney Modern opens its doors this week, following its contemporary and considered transformation by Japanese architecture studio SANAA. In an in-depth story published in our November 2022 issue, curator Kate Goodwin reported from the site, offering a sneak peek at what the Art Gallery of New South Wales has been up to – namely, preparing for the launch of its brand-new Sydney Modern wing, which is now complete and ready to receive its first, art-loving guests.
Sydney Modern opens
Sydney Modern is, in the words of director Michael Brand, ‘a transformation and expansion’, adding a new wing and extensive landscaping, while updating the gallery's old structure, Goodwin wrote. The architects flagged the connection the new complex of volumes offers to its surrounding city and nature. ‘It is a building that breathes with the city, the parkland and the beautiful harbour,’ SANAA’s Kazuyo Sejima.
Inside, indoors and outdoors blend at many points, following SANAA's signature architecture approach of lightness and openness. Large openings and swathes of glass underscore this, helping connect the galleries with their context and crafting a unique site-specific approach. Meanwhile, the building's programme is updated too. There is a relocated Yiribana Gallery on the ground level, which places the deep continuity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture at the heart of the new building; and the extraordinary new Tank space, which will become the home of many future commissions.
The new expansion ‘is more than just a treasure house with collections’, Brand said to Goodwin. SANAA's ethereal addition, with its well-calculated architectural space and civic dimension, promises exciting times and immersive art experiences for years to come.
Sydney Modern opens to the public on 3 December 2022
Wallpaper* Newsletter + Free Download
For a free digital copy of August Wallpaper*, celebrating Creative America, sign up today to receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories
Our sneak preview into Sydney Modern was included in the November 2022 Art Special Issue of Wallpaper*, available in print, on the Wallpaper* app on Apple iOS, and to subscribers of Apple News +. Subscribe to Wallpaper* today
Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).
-
‘Hedonistic and avant-garde’: Rabanne’s Julian Dossena on the legacy of the chainmail 1969 bag
Paco Rabanne’s 1969 chainmail handbag encapsulates the late designer’s futuristic, space-age style. Current creative director Julien Dossena tells Wallpaper* about the bag’s particular pleasures
By Jack Moss Published
-
Postcard from Paris: Olympic fever takes over the streets
On the eve of the opening ceremony of Paris 2024, our correspondent shares her views from the streets of the capital about how the event is impacting the urban landscape.
By Minako Norimatsu Published
-
The Mercury Prize nominees for 2024 have been revealed
Charli XCX, The Last Dinner Party and Beth Gibbons are amongst this year's nominees
By Charlotte Gunn Published
-
Proclamation House is a hempcrete urban sculpture nestled under peppermint trees
Built from hempcrete and stone, Proclamation House, a sculpturally angular build in Perth, Western Australia, carves out an intriguing niche on a quiet suburban street
By Carli Philips Published
-
Behind the timber façade of a Byron Bay house in Australia
Son Studio designed this Byron Bay house as an honest exterior for a light-filled Australian retreat
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
South Yarra House makes a sculptural statement in Melbourne
South Yarra House by Pandolfini Architects explores the interplay of compression and expansion through a series of surprising sculptural objects in Australia
By Grace Bernard Published
-
Burnt Earth Beach House is an experimental retreat crafted in terracotta
The experimental Australian Burnt Earth Beach House by John Wardle breaks new ground in material composition, using baked earth for warmth, texture and tonality
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Lavender Bay house opens towards the water, overlooking Sydney harbour
Lavender Bay house by Tobias Partners is an expansive family home overlooking Sydney harbour
By Ellie Stathaki Published
-
Mori House is an Australian beach escape fusing international design influences
Mornington Peninsula's Mori House by architect Manuel Aires Mateus is a striking fusion of Australian, Portuguese and Japanese design influences
By Stephen Crafti Published
-
Victorian cottage transformed by radical extension into a light-filled living space
Glasshouse Projects has opened up the heart of this Victorian cottage in Adelaide, Australia, with a contemporary garden extension and pool
By Jonathan Bell Published
-
Sydney’s Wharf Apartment is a heritage maritime space that evokes a coastal holiday home
Lawless & Meyerson’s Wharf Apartment is a careful, contemporary residential transformation in Sydney’s Finger Wharf that taps into the property's historic character
By Grace Bernard Published